HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE is a blackened metal band from Canada, who formed in 2016. Their latest release, “Moirae” is their second full-length album; they have also released an EP and a split. There is a fine line between black metal, DSBM, atmo black and post-black. The special aspect of HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE and their masterful new album is they don't care about that line. It just doesn't exist for them. Their extremely moody, downtrodden take on black metal is an intimate woven tapestry that is as fluid as the day giving way to night. They are their own obsidian moon, casting black light to illuminate the embattled elements of the world, making them appear all the more stark. Actions always speak louder than words and “Moirae” embraces that ideal by not just speaking of ill and wicked things that emanate from dark recesses but being a vessel of a truth we so often ignore.

According to the press release I received, the band says, “Moirae is an ancient Greek term referring to three figures that are the personifications of destiny.” They go on to speak that these beings make sure everyone lives what is assigned to them. That is some rather heavy and in depth subject matter but their vast songs explore them in such a way that any interpretation is fluid, much like their music, and their true meanings are left to those who listen. Much like in life, much like our destinies and how we perceive things, the album is left to the eye, or in this case the ears, of the beholder. Using another story of Greek origin, it is as if the band is Charon, guiding the listener across the river “Moirae” to the other side where they will only find their own truth.

“Moirae,” is a vast album with layers within layers and wheels within wheels. But it isn’t a complicated or overly stuffed sounding album; it unfurls as it fully embraces its own atmosphere but never forgetting the more intense aspects of black metal. Bassist/vocalist Nathan Ferreira’s tormented musings are pure pain and frustration, clawing to escape. Musically, it’s foggy and bleak but also bitter sweet in a way that reveals itself upon multiple listens. This is one of those albums that changes upon each listen because the listener’s mood, or even their life situation, is going to affect how they perceive it. Guitarists Nathan Boots and Nicholas Luck are fully encompassing—listen to the album with a decent pair of headphones and it will wash over you. Whether they are supplying haunting melodies, a charred segment of exposed notes, or an aerial wall of sound, the two tug on the emotional heartstrings even as they destroy them.

James Ditty’s performance on the kit is nothing short of spectacular. He knows just what the songs need. He steers the music when it needs a more direct approach but understands when to pull back and take a more indirect path. The production is raw but fathomless, perfectly capturing the essence of the songs. It sounds far away, yet close like a half forgotten memory that fades in and out over time. The title track opens the album, a deep and menacing groove slowly rolls through like a thunderstorm on a cool evening. The cold, winterized melodies sweep through the blanket of guitars, coming together as a true mixture.This wall of sound is the band at their best, hard hitting yet ethereal all at the same time. The later half of the song is a sea of double bass and vicious vocals before it all boils over into a harrowing tunnel of emotional torture.

The band doesn't always take it slow; a mid tempo approach, such as the opening on “Fates” captures their gloom and doom but a forward momentum. From the halfway point to the end, the band creates a melancholic journey. Peppering the landscape are melodic textures and raspy vocals. The first two minutes of “Degrade” offers itself as both an intro to the song and as a bridge from the second track. It’s clean with a very subtle atmosphere in the background, building up to fruition which hits around the two minute mark. It’s a steady swath of riffs and groovy drums, swirling together to bring tragedy to its heights even as it feels like everything is spiraling downwards. The vocals, which mix desperate howls and graveborn screams, offer a path through this neverending nightmare but the journey leads to a speedy assault on the senses.

The album saves the longest two songs for last as it reaches its clawed hands out towards this apex of death and life. “Loss,” wastes little time, the music coming to a boil by the thirty second mark. It festers and spills over as the song is pushed forward by the deadly vocal performance. The song opens up around the three minute mark, dull melodies melding into the blackened riffs. As the song fades, the final song, the nearly fourteen minute “Atropos” begins. The trepidation, the tension, the danger...it’s all on full display here. A frightening scream pierces the foggy veil around the 1:07 mark and the band dives in full speed. It fades out of the abrasive waters and into the fridge sea around four minutes in, a clean/ambient passage that captures the mood of the heavier passage that preceded it but in a different way.

The layers grow, twisting, turning, melting and reborn into a new life. The guitars climb higher and higher, the vocals another step towards a new climax. The band brings it full throttle for the rest of the song, putting together all the album’s best elements as it reaches the end. HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE’s “Moirae,” is a stunning achievement in how to meld abrasive, searing music with melancholic and melodic textures without compromising on anything. Post, Black, DSBM...it doesn’t matter what it is called because, simply put, “Moirae” is the best album I’ve heard this year under the black metal umbrella.